A 1920's Art Deco former library in a conservation area has been earmarked for an extension.

The single-storey structure would be added to the offices of the construction company which uses the building as its offices.

It would occupy the untidy storage yard next to the Old Church Library in Library Street, Church.

Glen Yates of European Screeding Ltd has applied to Hyndburn Council for planning permission for the extension.

The site lies in the Church Canalside Conservation Area.

A supporting statement to planners says: "The building is currently used as an office although it was originally built as a library.

"The land which the client would like to build on is currently an open storage yard at the side of the building.

"The building is thought to have been originally constructed around1920 and was purpose-built as a library in Art Deco style.

"The building is built with red brick exterior with stone band courses and parapet coping, stone cills and feature brick soldier courses as lintels.

"The library closed in 2006 and has since been used as an office.

"The applicant acquired the building in 2019 and has used it as a base for their construction company (floor screeding), primarily for office space but also with a small yard for material storage.

"The yard area has a mix of materials including brick, random stone walling, blockwork walling, stone copings, concrete copings, profiled metal sheeting, and razor wire fence.

"The proposal is to build a single-storey side extension built from red brick to match the existing building.

"The existing yard walls will be retained and extended upwards.

"The building is a relatively modern addition to the area albeit during the Art Deco time, but it actually stands out as being different to all the other buildings in the conservation area.

"The part of the building being altered is currently very untidy with various materials and immediately next to this is the council’s vehicle maintenance yard which contains several part-demolished buildings.

"The part of the site where the extension is proposed is at the end of the street which makes it less visible to passing traffic on the main thoroughfare Church Street.

"The proposal will actually tidy up this part of the site by providing an enclosed building rationalising the materials to just brick and removing the security risk of people jumping over the wall into the yard.

"As such this proposal will have a positive impact on the Conservation Area."